Record-Breaking Crypto Hacks Top $1 Billion in First Half of 2026

The first half of 2026 saw a record number of cryptocurrency hacks, with losses exceeding $1 billion, according to Blockaid. The firm reported that this was the 'most-hacked half-year on record', referring to the number of incidents rather than the value stolen.

Dollar losses remained below the year-earlier total, which was inflated by a major exploit involving Bybit that cost $1.5 billion. North Korea-linked hackers accounted for the largest share of money stolen during H1 2026, with Blockaid attributing both the $285 million Drift exploit and the $292 million KelpDAO exploit to DPRK-linked actors.

Blockaid expects attacks linked to North Korea to persist due to a consistent pattern of LinkedIn social engineering leading to multisig signer compromise. The firm said there is 'no structural reason' for this pattern to stop.